When it comes to Bollywood, producers & directors always try to be one step above the rest. Whether it’s a dance sequence shot on the outskirts of the Himalayas, or taking permission to film within Universal Studios, our film industry is known to go above and beyond.

But over the past few years, Bollywood has stepped into a different route – animation.

We go out first taste of Bollywood starts in an animated way when the King Khan himself, Shahrukh Khan, lent his voice to a cartoon character in the Disney movie Hum Hain Lajawab. And it was extra-special for SRK as his son, Aryan, accompanied him in this endeavor as well.

Khan had stated, “I was not sure if he would pass the audition test, but he did a good job and I’m happy he has already got his first pay check,” in regards to Aryan’s voice over for the character Tez Pal. Shahrukh Khan was given the character of Mr. Lajawaab in the movie, which is a Hindi remake of Disney’s ever-so popular, The Incredibles.

Khan then went onto say, “In Hollywood cartoon movies characters are written keeping in mind the Hollywood stars who will voice over. But this character is completely unlike me.”

Global Release: Friday, February 12, 2010

Lyricist: Niranjan Iyengar

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy once again left their listeners astonished as the musical trio produced yet another hit album. From their musical hit albums in movies such as Kal Ho Naa Ho, Bunty aur Babli, Taare Zameen Par, and Wake up Sid they now move onto their latest masterpiece, the My Name is Khan soundtrack. The movie, directed by none other than director extraordinaire, Karan Johar stars Sharukh Khan and Kajol. It is set to have a global release on Friday February 12^th 2010.  The soundtrack includes 6 striking songs.

The first track and most popular from the film is “Sajdaa.” Hand down, it is by far the most touching song on the album. This number captures the beautiful relationship between Khan and Kajol in this inspiring movie. The song is sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shankar Mahadevan and Richa Sharma. It’s a Sufi number that tugs at one’s heartstrings. The sounds of tablas and dholaks keep the listener hooked. With great voices behind the mike, “Sajda” is a must hear.

Next is, “Noor-e-Khuda” serves as an inspirational number as it engages it’s listeners with its soft tunes and touching lyrics. It’s an unplugged version sung by Adnan Sami, Shreya Ghoshal and Shankar. It’s a soft, pleasing love ballad that instantly strikes a chord. Most part of the song is male- dominated; nonetheless, it gets an edge when Shreya enters with her honey-tucked voice close to the end of the track.

“Tere Naina” also follows the lead of “Sajdaa” as it goes on to describes the beautiful relationship Kajol and Shahrukh share onscreen. It is a soft melody that captures the romantic side of the movie. Shafqat Amanat Ali renders “Tere Naina” brilliantly. The subtle orchestration and melody make for an interesting hear. It changes gear mid-way when it slips into the qawwali mode which elevates it further.

Next,…

Yes, that’s right, the King Khan himself, Mr. Shahrukh Khan, has proposed to a lovely and sweet Gujarati girl!

Alright, he isn’t literally marrying her, but the gesture was sweet! When I heard that Shahrukh Khan got down on one knee and proposed to 20-year-old Tillana Desai, I had to get my journalist-cap on and find out the true details!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first and only place where you’ll get to see the official photographs of Tillana Desai and The King Khan down on one knee, proposing to her!

So what really happened?!

Tillana told me, “the experience was magical…I did it just to express my admiration and respect for him.” She went onto say, “he’s a fantastic human being…but at the same time, I know I can’t really marry him..so on impulse, to keep my heart, he went down on his knees…I told him I always wanted to marry him since the age of 7…he said I cant marry you in real but we can rehearse!!! And then he asked me, Tillana, will you marry me? There was nothing or no one in the world that would make me say no!”

So what do you get when you combine a relationship fearing guy and a relationship swearing girl? And what happens when a girl for whom work comes before anything and a guy for whom love is everything try to fix everything? Well, we’re left with a problem even worse than that tongue twister.

This hilarious comedy takes us through an emotional roller coaster as we encounter many dynamic characters and see the crazy things one does for love. A unique and charming script, combined with a highly talented cast gave this movie a great outcome.

The movie focuses on the relationship of two confused, love filled couples. The first pair consists of ‘tough guy’ Donsai, played by Fardeen Khan, and the quiet and shy Samarpreet, known by us as the lovely Ishita Sharma. From Donsai and ‘summer’, we are introduced to Shimmer, played by Sushmita Sen, and Pawan Raj, played by the legendary Sharukh Khan.

The confusing tale of these four love birds leaves the audience laughing continuously and envious of the perfect match of these confused lovers.

The movie begins with the introduction of ‘tough guy’ and ladies man, Tej Danraj aka Donsai. With the recent death of his father, he is forced to make a tough decision his father left for him; marry a stranger from a small village or stay a bachelor and lose his million dollar inheritance. Being a spoiled child used to life’s riches, he makes the obvious decision of marriage. From this non-committing, long-term relationship scared player, the movie takes us a small Punjabi village and into the home of quiet, relationship bound young girl, Samarpreet Kapoor. With an innocent and blunt mind, she immediately accepts Donsai’s request and they have a quiet marriage.

All seem too suspicious and…

On the day of your birthday, nothing can be more special than winning an award, and that too from Filmfare.

Deshmukh tweeted on his Twitter just now, “Riteishd: Hey got my First filmfare award today. Best bday gift ever”

He made his debut in 2003 with Tujhe Meri Kasam in which he co-starred Genelia D’souza. He then did the lead role in Out of Control. He became a known face after the 2004 comedy Masti, again co-starring Genelia, which truly established him as an actor. Later, he appeared in Bardaasht.

His forthcoming films are Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann, again co-starring Amitabh Bachchan, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav and Do Knot Disturb along with Govinda, Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta. He is currently working on Sajid Khan’s Housefull along with co-stars Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Jiah Khan and Lara Dutta.

Well, we too are proud of Ritesh have received such a great honor! Continue reading to see more pictures!

Rocket Singh tells the story of a simple man with traditional values, but because he’s not too smart, school that is, he’s having a hard time getting a job like his good friend who is going into the MBA program. With that said, I went to see “Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year” it on Saturday. Rocket Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) is the new guy in a salesman’s world. He is super stressed when he realizes that he doesn’t seem to know how to deal with the unrealistic goals set by his boss. He comes across a client who blatantly expects a bribe and Rocket must tackle his ideologies. When Rocket doesn’t offer the bribe and tells the client that he’s wrong, Rocket leaves and sees a complaint box and proceeds to place his complaints there. What happens next is what causes Rocket to eventually seeks assistance from some of his fellow co-workers.

I enjoyed this movie and I think the characters are great. Most of the dialogue is very witty and some of it is cut-throat. You can’t go into this movie thinking of Ranbir as being sexy, as he played in Bacha Ae Haseeno or Saawariya. It’s not the most powerful performance but I think overall, with the storyline and script, he gives a memorable performance.

I really liked the chemistry between D. Santosh, who plays the PC assembler and Ranbir. D. Santosh has some of the most funniest lines in the movie. I particularly like the scene with Koena (Gauhar Khan as the receptionist) who is really upset that they are going to be found out (since they started their own company within the company) and she keeps saying, “I knew something like this was going to happen,” Mr. PC…

With hundreds of new faces, how are you supposed to know which ones are going to rise and which are going to flop?

Well, Bravura is here to tell you who to keep on your Bollywood radar!

First on the list is Neil Nitin Mukesh. This Mumbai born actor is sure to make it big in Bollywood. He started off his major acting career with a starring role in Johnny Gaddaar and then went on to win our hearts in his recent role as an innocent taxi driver in New York.

From Mukesh, we move on to the “sexiest male actor,” Ranbir Kapoor. Although he has been in the movie industry since 2007, this performer first caught our eye with his role in Saawariya for which he won Filmfare’s Best Male Debut Award. He then went on to play roles in Bachna Ae Hasseno and Rocket Singh. But Kapoor recently left an exorbitant impression on us with award from People Magazine’s as the “sexiest male actor.”

Sexy and talented? Well, we know this actor is going places!

To top this list of this list of unique entertainers is Ruslaan Mumtaz. He made a debut with his major roles in Tere Sang and Jaane Kaha Se Aayi Hai. This highly talented actor is making his next appearance in a upcoming Hollywood movie Christopher’s Miles. One thing is for sure, whether in Hollywood or Bollywood, this actor is definitely one to keep an eye on.

You’re invited to the biggest Desi wedding of the year!

Alright, you’re not, but it’s good to see pictures from the biggest wedding! Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra were married on November 22, 2009. The wedding took place at Shetty’s business partner’s farm house in Khandala (friend was Kiran Bawa).

The wedding was all the glitz and glamor that Bollywood expected with familiar faces such as Shahrukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and many others. People were skeptical about Aki darling attending the wedding, byt by-gones be by-gones! Check out some of the pictures from the biggest wedding of 2009 and let us know what you think!

Before they came out, Oprah introduced the couple to the audience with a few facts. “India’s Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan have five Billion, yes, I said five Billion fans around the globe. She has been called the world’s most beautiful woman and he is not so bad himself! They are husband and wife, and superstars of Bollywood.”

The couple came out holding hands. Abhishek looked very handsome, and Aishwarya was lovely in a traditional sari. Abhi, or ABee as Oprah called him, set the tone of the interview with a cute answer to her question, “You have never done this before, sat down together?” He responded, “We sit together quite often!”

Oprah then asked, “How did you pop the question to the most beautiful woman in the world? “I was filming in New York for a movie,” he said, “and I used to stand on the balcony of my hotel room and wish that, ‘One day, you know, wouldn’t it be nice if I was together with her, married’. So I took her to the very same balcony, and I asked her to marry me.” The audience sighed and Aishwarya said, “It was very sweet and at the same time real …” “Real?” Abhi queried, but Oprah had gone on to the next question and we will never know what she meant.

Her new theme song might be, “Bebo mein Bebo, dil mera lelo…,” but Bebo aka Kareena Kapoor is an international style icon! She was born into, what we like to call, a “film family,” where her parents Randhir Kapoor and Babita, as well as, her elder sister Karisma were actors. Since a very young age, Kapoor has been at one with the media and always in the spotlight. It was back in 2000 that she made her debut in the film Refugee – not only did she show to the world that she too is a Kapoor with impeccable acting skills, but her role in the movie also earned her the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award.

However, Kapoor was soon victim of typecasting – always playing the little bubbly Indian girl – who hasn’t done that before?! However, from 2004 to 2006 she was recognized by critics for displaying greater versatility. In 2004, she portrayed a sex worker in Chameli, and this role became a major turning point in her career. She also attained the Filmfare Special Performance Award. Later she also received two other honorable mentions: Critics Awards for Best Actress at the Filmfare ceremony for her performances in the critically acclaimed Dev (2004) and Omkara (2006).